58 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



CLYDESDALE NATURALISTS' SOCIETY. 

 The usual monthly meeting of this society was held at 207, Bath Street, 

 Glasgow, on Wednesday evening, February 8th, Mr. T. J. Henderson, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. Dr. Hugh Murray, F.R.C.S., 23, Royal Crescent, was 

 elected an honorary member, and a large number of applications for member- 

 ship were announced. Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., exhibited 

 a specimen of a young snow-bunting, Plectroplmnes nivalis, Linn., taken 

 at a considerable elevation on the west coast of Sutherlandshire, and regard- 

 ing which, a short paper was read. Mr. John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a 

 series of mounted specimens of Scottish carboniferous Entomostraca, as well 

 as examples of limestone, ironstone, and shale, showing these minute organ- 

 isms, in their matrix. He stated that the Scottish Entomostraca during 

 recent years had been ably investigated by Professor Rupert Jones and J. W. 

 Kir by, by whom they were now figured and described. The specimens 

 exhibited belonged to the lacustrine or fresh- water group, and embraced 

 some six genera and thirteen species. Some of the species are very small, 

 but so great is their abundance that in some instances they form a large 

 portion of the rocks in which they are enclosed. Mr. Young, in concluding, 

 remarked on the form and mode of occurrence of the several species, and the 

 methods he employed in extracting them from the rock matrix, so as to be 

 able to mount them for microscopical examination. Mr. George E. Paterson 

 exhibited a pair of fine specimens of the short-toed eagle or serpent eagle, 

 Falco brachydactylus, which had been shot in the large forest of the Depart- 

 ment of Eare and Loire, to the south of Paris, in the month of June, 1869. 

 Mr. Paterson also showed a very interesting series of the snow-bunting, 

 Plectrophanes nivalis, from Russia, America, Scotland, and Shetland, and 

 read a very instructive paper on the distribution of this species, particularly 

 in the North of Scotland, and instanced many records of its occurrence there, 

 where both nest and young have been found in some instances. A series of 

 specimens of the bullfinch, Pyrrhula vulgaris, was exhibited, to illustrate 

 the difference in plumage between English, Russian, and French specimens. 

 A very fine collection of nests and eggs was also exhibited, including a rather 

 picturesque nest of the peewitt, found on Mr. Harvie Brown's property at 

 Dunipace, and which is figured in the recent work, " A Vertebrate Fauna of 

 Sutherland, Caithness, and West Cromarty," by T. E. Buckley and J. A. 

 Harvie Brown. Mr. James Lumsden, F.Z.S., read a most interesting and 

 practical paper on the study of " Ornithology from Trains," in which he gave 

 some illustrations of notes on bird life taken while travelling by rail. He 

 pointed out the pleasure and information which might be derived by making 

 observations of this kind, which contribute to maktng instructive and profit- 



